PennDOT Taking Advantage Of ‘Quiet’ Weekend To Work On Parkway Projects

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — When PennDOT tries to decide when to do work, they go to a large calendar of events on the wall. Everything that draws a crowd all summer is listed there and the weekends to avoid are obvious. This coming weekend stands out as “quiet” and PennDOT is taking full advantage.

Parkway East

This is the first of five paving weekends on the Parkway East from the Fort Pitt Bridge to Swissvale this year. This weekend, the work will focus on the outbound or Eastbound side from the Fort Pitt Bridge to the Birmingham Bridge. Traffic will be restricted to a single lane throughout that stretch starting Friday night and continuing until Monday morning.

All the downtown entrance ramps to the outbound Parkway East will be closed with all traffic detoured to the Boulevard of the Allies. Also, the ramp from the Fort Duquesne Bridge to the Parkway East will be closed. That traffic will detour through the Fort Pitt Tunnel, loop around at Banksville, and come back through the tunnel to the Parkway East.

Parkway North

The work begins Thursday night for a major change in the Parkway North construction zone. While the work closest to the Vets Bridge will continue, farther up the valley, drivers will be switching over to the newly paved roadway. Crews will be working throughout the weekend on the new configuration to get traffic out of the HOV lane and back to where it normally runs.

(Photo Credit: KDKA)

That means the elimination of the decision point at McKnight Road and the split point just before Perrysville. When the change occurs before Monday morning, the Perrysville exit ramp will return. The Perrysville Northbound entrance is not quite ready.

Once the change is made crews will work on the HOV lane to get it ready to return to its normal function by early September.

Forbes Ave in Oakland

A major repaving project on Forbes Avenue in Oakland kicks into high gear at Craft Avenue and head east. There is a lot of work that is going to be done but suffice it to say, in some areas you will be forced into a single lane.

Those are the plans but mark it down in pencil. Mother Nature could force PennDOT and its contractors to call an audible. Stay tuned.